BUS2BUS Daily 2017

Tuesday, 04/25/2017

BUS2BUS is now underway

BUS2BUS was opened today with an exclusive tour of the trade fair. Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, was able to get an impression of the most important technical developments. ‘BUS2BUS is an incredibly exciting trade fair, as it brings together all of the innovations that are possible in the bus sector,’ he said. ‘Hopefully it will contribute to the innovations reaching the streets sooner’.

In his opening speech, Dr Christian Göke, Chairman of the management board of Messe Berlin GmbH, emphasised that the first edition of BUS2BUS, as a supplementary marketplace to the bdo Congress, together with the Future Forum, is coming at a time when the changes in the industry are tangible, be it emission-free travel or digitalisation. BUS2BUS therefore has the potential to develop into a world-leading trade fair.

bdo Vice President, Karl Hülsmann, said: ‘The bus will be a part of the future. It is environmentally friendly, user-friendly, safe, and efficient’. He underlined the fact that his association will face the new challenges head-on and will support its members Europe-wide as well.

As a representative for the state of Berlin, Henner Bunde (CDU), State Secretary for the Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Public Enterprises, highlighted the significance of bus transport for the capital. Berlin is tackling challenges such as particulate matter pollution in the inner city with a gradual changeover to electric buses, some of which are already on the city’s streets. The State Secretary stressed: ‘For Berlin, intelligent mobility solutions are a crucial element on the way to a smart city’.

Sascha Lobo: future-ready thanks to new mobility concepts

As a blogger, author, and journalist, Sascha Lobo is a specialist in the digitalisation of the work world. At the bdo Congress, he dealt with the question of what the bus company of the future will look like. With references to the dramatic effects of Uber and Lyft on taxi business, he advises the bus sector to actively get involved in engineering the transformation currently underway.

‘We live in a time where progress is exponential,’ he said, with reference to the smartphone and its effect on society. Over the last ten years, it has become indispensable to many people, who use it for everything from scheduling to grocery shopping. ‘What we’re seeing is a mobile revolution that everybody is aware of, although few fully comprehend its extent, even most experts,’ he said. The fact that many services are available instantly, from any place and at any time, has created a ‘digital impatience’ among users. The bus operators’ task now is to use such platforms as digital ecosystems for customer relations. He advises copying from tried-and-tested platforms. Convenience should take the highest priority, so that people will want to take the bus, rather than it being a necessity. Sacha Lobo considers that one of the industry’s most important tasks now is learning the customers’ needs and creating a personal relationship with them, and he also advises exploring partnerships that serve this purpose. The BUS2BUS trade fair offers the optimal conditions for this.

Exhibitor News

Cash payments: Book online, pay in cash

Not everyone likes to use their credit card or PayPal account to make online payments. Barzahlen.de is for those who would rather pay for their flights, coach trips or package tours in cash. Customers of the largest private payment infrastructure in Germany can pay for tickets at the supermarket checkout in more than 10,000 branches of the affiliated retail stores.

How does it work? When a customer books a trip, they receive a confirmation by e-mail, SMS or post. They have the barcode scanned at the till of their local supermarket, and pay in cash or by card. The payment information is sent to the tour operator, who then sends the tickets to the customer’s home by post. The participating supermarkets include Rewe, Penny, Real and DM. With some retail partner stores, it is also possible for customers to deposit or withdraw money from their bank account.

Linkker: All aboard! – Test rides on the electric bus

Unending traffic jams, ice cold weather in the winter and sweltering heat in the summer: Moscow’s climate and traffic conditions are extreme. Nevertheless, Linkker’s electric bus is still able to hold its own. The transport operator Mosgortrans is putting the new technology to the test in an initial effort to fight smog in the Russian capital.

Linkker has been developing lightweight and electric vehicles for more than ten years. The Finnish company is bringing something new to BUS2BUS that will be marketed starting in 2018: a fully low-floor bus that is characterised by particularly low entries along its entire length. This makes it even easier for passengers to board the vehicle.

Linkker is also making recharging easier with new battery sizes. Its buses can be operated using a lithium-titanate battery with a capacity of 80kW, in addition to the 55kW and 63kW versions.

Visitors to BUS2BUS can see for themselves what it’s like to ride on a fully electric-powered bus. The Linkker 12Plus will be available for test rides outside the trade show on 25 and 26 April 2017.

door2door: Mobility for tomorrow

Ordering an Uber car by app? That sounds tempting, although the streets are getting busier and busier. In Manhattan alone, the introduction of such services has forced 50,000 additional vehicles onto the streets.

Clever solutions are required to alleviate some of the traffic from inner cities or even to strive towards a car-free city. The Berlin-based start-up, door2door is helping to create such solutions. It analyses the public transport network and determines the actual demand. Any identified shortcomings can be resolved using fleets of small buses, for instance. An app bundles the information on conventional transport services and supplementary services offered by transit companies.

First-rate travel: gbk – Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort e.V.

How can coach passengers be sure that they have booked a first-rate vehicle for their trip? The goal of the “RAL” seal of quality is to provide customers with guidance on the comfort of coaches. As with the hotel industry, there is a star rating system. The more stars a vehicle has, the more amenities it offers its passengers. The criteria assessed include seat spacing, storage space and onboard services.

gbk – Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort e.V. brings together a total of 500 coach companies. “The Gütegemeinschaft Buskomfort ratings represent a method that has proven its worth to business owners for more than 40 years,” said gbk CEO Hermann Meyering. “In addition to the competitive advantage the classification provides, gbk also offers its members added value by continually expanding their portfolio of special services.” Among other things, members benefit from discounted fuel and public relations support.

Naturtrip.org: into nature, by bus

“You don’t need a car for every trip”. This is the statement that the online portal naturtrip.org is based on. The digital trip planner for Berlin and Brandenburg presents locations that can be easily reached using the region’s public transport services. Its routing software combines timetable information with leisure destinations to achieve this.

The user doesn’t have to know their destination in order to run a search on naturtrip.org. They can choose from interesting destinations or activities that can be reached within the time span determined by the user. These destinations include parks, forests, and lakes, as well as play areas and cafés.

However, the portal is not only useful for people who would like to take a trip. It also contributes to creating increased and more evenly-distributed demand for local public transport. Naturtrip.org’s partners include both regional transit companies and environmental protection organisations.